You know when you need to dispose of an American flag, you contact either the Boy Scouts or the Veteran's Association? They will honorably dispose of a tattered flag in a flag burning ceremony. So here's my question along a similar vein.
How does one dispose of a Bible that is so tattered and worn it is not readable?
This Bible in question even has pages missing and the binding is non-existant. And before you say keep it because it is old, it was mine as a child and is a Revised Standard Edition presented to me in Sunday school in 1960. The old one I treasure is the white zippered Bible presented to me by my parents and my older brother on my birthday in 1957.
Anyone?
In my faith, Jewish, we would bury the equivalent.
ReplyDeleteMore complete explaination/rationale if you are interested:
It is forbidden to destroy the written name of G-d, whether it is written in Hebrew or any other language. Furthermore, it is forbidden to cause the written name of G-d to be destroyed or defaced by placing it in a place where it will be destroyed by others. This rule also applies to any words of Torah, such as a sefer (Torah book). Therefore, a sefer which is no longer usable, or any paper or pamphlet which contains word of Torah (commonly known as “Shaimos”), must be buried. Most cities have an organization, or burial society, which for a small fee will respectfully bury these holy objects.
Very interesting info concerning the flag and Bible. I am not practicing my quilting I have decided to take a break for the next couple of days.After piecing three quilts int he last two months I feel tired, but I am certainly giving the FM quilting a try.
ReplyDeleteYou know I have had this same question in my mind for a long time. I like Calico Cat's answer, I have also heard that you should burn them. I think I will wrap mine up and bury it with a prayer thanking GOD for his word and asking him to bless my new bible.
ReplyDeleteOld post, but I wanted to jump in. I'm Catholic, and if we have a blessed article (palms, scapular, etc.) we cannot throw it away. We are told to burn it, and bury the ashes. Holy water is poured out into the soil, such as a garden. So if I had an old Bible, I'd burn it and bury the ashes. I wouldn't just bury it, as who knows...it could someday get unearthed by an animal or something, before completely disintegrating. So my answer would be a combination of comment 1 and 3. ;-) Just in case anyone who reads this now (almost two years later) is interested.
ReplyDelete